Many web sites and apps require you to use strong passwords made up of eight or more characters of different types, with upper- and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters.

The trick is remembering them.

A great way to come up with a complicated, memorable password is to take a phrase, or even a chunk of your favorite song, and use the first letter of each word as a character in the password.

For example, to be extra cryptic, consider Meatloaf’s song, “I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).” You can even use the parentheses. It would look like this: IWDAFL(BIWDT). To add in numbers and an extra special character, substitute the number “1” for “I” and a “+” for “T” and you end up with 1WDAFL(B1WD+).

Password gold, there.

2) Use a Password Manager App

Even with mnemonics like these, it’s still not easy to keep track of all your passwords, due to different site requirements and password expiration dates.

There was a time that people kept little black books for that, but thankfully, there are a bevy of password manager apps to pick from, including our own Password Keeper, as well as SplashData’s app and LastPass Premium, all on BlackBerry World.

The apps have you enter your login information (all encrypted, of course) and keep track of all of it for you. After you enter a master password, the app will then auto-fill the information for you when you access sites or apps. The password apps should also prompt you to store passwords as you enter them.

No more “What was it again?!” moments.

PC Magazine has an updated list you should check out – LastPass netted an Editor’s Choice Award from the magazine.

3) Secure your Wireless Network at Home or Away

If you’re at home, this means making sure your Wi-Fi router is set up with WPA2 security – It’s the gold standard. According to PCWorld, “WPA2 offers considerably more than the older standards, WEP and WPA, both of which can be cracked in minutes.”

Additionally, many people turn on “guest access” on their routers to make it easy for visitors to log on. This should be disabled, since it’s relatively easy for anyone to jump on your network. Handling both of these details entails going into your router’s menu (check the manual for that).

What about when you’re out and logging in via public networks, whether in a coffee shop or on a plane? To steal a phrase, Hotspot User Beware. And use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Eva Velasquez, the President/CEO at the Identity Theft Resource Centeraddressed this in an article for Intuit.com, saying, “Because they are not encrypted or password protected, public Wi-Fi networks have significant vulnerabilities.Criminals can essentially ‘watch’ everything you are doing on the Internet, including what passwords you enter, what websites you visit and what you do on them. All of this can be done by a hacker intercepting the wireless signals between your mobile device and the unsecured public Wi-Fi network.”

BlackBerry’s own security expert, Alex Manea, concurred when I asked him about this, saying,

VPNs, whether provided by your company, or one you subscribe to as a consumer, are the way to go. Gogo, a provider of paid, in-flight Wi-Fi, cautions in their FAQ section that outside of the point of purchasing the service, people should use them.

Take note; frequent fliers.

4) Use Multifactor Authentication

Have you ever tried to access your bank account from a different computer than the one you normally use?

You were likely sent a text message with a code you needed to input in order to proceed. That’s an example of multifactor authentication, and uses something only you know (password/PIN/pattern) with something only you have (your smartphone with your specific phone number).

Many email providers, as well as banks and other places where users access sensitive information, offer two-step/multi-factor authentication. Even if not required, you should always sign up.

There are up to three independent factors tied to the user, which are used to verify the person and the proper credentials to access information, with an additional emerging step being biometrics, such as a fingerprint scanner on your laptop or mobile device. This adds a layer of authentication without requiring you to memorize anything.

5) Encrypt Your Own Data on Your Device

From here, you can set the Device Encryption switch to On, and you have the option to do the same for Media Card Encryption.

This will make the device information look scrambled and useless to someone trying to get a peek without the encryption key.

By taking these steps, you make yourself a much harder target for hacking and data theft.

The Internet is forever, as they say.

Now, if they’d only create an “Are you sure you want to post this?” button on Facebook….

About Matt Young

Matt Young is a writer and editor with experience in tech, music, news and entertainment. A current Performance Evangelist for Radware, Matt has previous experience with BlackBerry, and Avaya. He has a degree in Journalism from San Jose State University. Follow Matt on Twitter @techunraveler.

The views expressed on any corporate or individual's personal website or any Twitter account are not necessarily those of BlackBerry. The user's Twitter account and/or personal website, any corporate website, or any comments contained on any of the foregoing have not been reviewed by BlackBerry and do not constitute an endorsement by BlackBerry.